Radiance
by Song of Stillness
Summary: Peter watches the sunlight creep nonchalantly over the sill...and remembers a time when the warmth of the sun was a joy, not a curse...


**Radiance**

_Author's Note: _One of my personal favourites that was inspired by some of the wonderful Narnian fanfic. I've read over the years. Written in third person, present tense.

* * *

Peter watches the sunlight creep nonchalantly over the sill, tracing burnished footsteps in its wake and remembers a time when the warmth of the sun was a joy not a curse. He remembers faintly ripples of silvery laughter on a warm scented wind, the smell of fresh pine and salt-spray, combined in such a way that makes him feel lost and homesick all at once. Swinging his feet from his bed, he manages to untangle himself from his sheets and proceed with mundane things of the day ahead such as toast, jam and button-up shirts.

Quietly he peers into his younger brother and sister's rooms, watching their peaceful breathing and remembers a time when he watched them sleep under a star-filled Narnian sky. After tip-toeing across the landing, the High King makes a mad rush down the stairs.

"Peter." The quiet voice stops him in a whirlwind by the door, books in hand.

He turns, half-reluctantly, a sigh on his lips.

But it is his mother's smile that greets him, warm and patient in a dress that catches the sunlight. She holds out her hands and he takes them, tucking his dog-eared books into his sand-paper coloured satchel. "Don't worry about me Mother," he kisses her gently on the cheek. "I'll be fine."

"_I know" _her eyes seem to say.

But she holds him close to her and whispers "Be safe," in his ear anyway.

Helen muses how much her son has grown in the past few months. It is almost as if a man stands where her son used to be. The change is unsettling and makes her feel older. But it's not just Peter. It's all of them. They've all changed somehow; the first change was when they returned from Professor Diggory's house, sun-drenched and blazing with an almost unearthly light, but more recently still, at the onset of the school holidays.

She shakes her head and waves Peter on his way, watching his hurried steps patter down the path. Her two youngest are at school, but Peter is at University now, a scholar if there ever was one. Helen smiles to herself and steps back in the house, closing the door behind her, reminiscing of her young man in a boy's body.

Lucy is second to rise, having woken from a dream of wind-swept plains, white-hot falling stars that she caught in her hands and the glorious sunrise melting pink and gold over the horizon. Out of the four, she misses Narnia the most, especially Aslan. And now as her memories of being older, beautiful and Queenly start to fade, she turns to the life she is now living with optimism like a ray of sunshine. Not much can dampen Lucy's spirits. Except maybe her sister Susan. She's been noticing a certain distancing going on with her elder sister. Susan is away at finishing school, obsessing over beaus, deportment and the right way to pour tea. Lucy has never felt more lonely in her life. Privately, she remembers an older Susan, a wiser Susan, a Susan who graciously helped rule a Kingdom, who stood by her siblings no matter what the circumstance, a Queen who was loved and adored by all those around her. Such thoughts make Lucy sad and the one she confides in when she's upset is her dark-haired older brother, closer in age than Peter and Susan.

Edmund is woken from his pleasant reverie by a soft little voice. He mumbles into his pillow and turns over. "Edmund!" Lucy is more persistent now, and she crawls over the lump in the bed and shakes his shoulder.

"What is it…" he mumbles, reluctant to get up.

"It's just me…"

"Lu… what are you doing?" Edmund's voice is grouchy but there is a hint of exasperated tenderness. Uncurling from his foetal position, he pulls her up and stares expectantly into her honey-brown eyes.

"Alright Lu… what's so important that you _have_ to wake me up?"

Lucy twiddles her thumbs around a corner of the sheet, her face downcast.

"I was thinking about Susan…"

"Mm."

"Oh Ed…" she cries dissolving into tears. "I just wish things were different…I wish… I wish we were back in Narnia!"

Edmund who hates seeing his sister cry, bundles her up against his chest and kisses the top of her head. "We can't help that Lucy," he sighs. "It was obviously meant to be…"

"But… but… I'm beginning to forget…" her eyes are wide and frightened.

"I'm forgetting Ed, what they looked like, their faces, our friends…" tears stream down her face, as she lets out another sob.

Edmund hugs her again. "Lucy," he whispers. "My brave little Queen." It was what he often called her during their stay at Cair Paravel. "Don't you remember? Once a King or Queen of Narnia, always a King or Queen of Narnia?"

She hiccoughs quietly and nods, remembering the Great Lion, the goldenness of his mane, his gentle eyes as he breathed lion kisses on her brow.

"Aslan."

"Yes," Edmund nodded.

Lucy looks up at him, remembering words from long ago. "He knows what he's doing…"

"I'm sure he does. Don't worry Lu."

And the two huddle together, sharing memories and experiences from a brighter time, a brighter age.

And as Helen walks up the stairs to see where her two youngest school children are, she is somewhat mystefied by the radiant glow seems to emanate from them, casting golden crowns on their heads, making them appear wiser and older than they really are. Helen stands on the landing, wrapped up in the feeling that her children have been blessed by some unknown, otherworldly light that shines upon them from above.


End file.
